Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Oscar madness

My first take on today's announcement of Oscar finalists: A few welcome surprises -- including a Best Actor nomination for Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises) and a Best Director nod for Jason Reitman (Juno) -- along with plenty of predictable choices, hardly any of them unworthy, and only one truly disappointing shut-out. (Nothing at all for Knocked Up? Damn.)

I wish there had been a little Academy love for some of my personal-fave long-shots (especially Reign Over Me and Black Snake Moan), but, really there's nothing on this list that annoys me, and quite a few inclusions that delight me. I'm especially happy to see Ellen Page among the Best Actress finalists -- shameless plug: I have an interview with her in the new issue of MovieMaker -- and Tommy Lee Jones getting the attention he deserves for the criminally under-rated In the Valley of Elah. Let's hope neither nominee will have to worry about crossing picket lines when the envelopes are opened Feb. 24.

1 comment:

Toto said...

Yeah, this year's nominations didn't annoy me, or anger me too much (but where o where was Once?). Pretty solid choices, all, and a pretty solid year for film, frankly.